Needing Her (The Lexington Series Book 3)

by Belle Winters

  “So are you her boyfriend?” one of the female reporters asked.

  Nick laughed. “You’re going to listen to her?” he asked.

  When the reporter laughed and nodded he sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He relented and shrugged. “I don’t know ask her.” he said pointing a thumb towards me.

  I rolled my eyes. “Seriously?”

  The reporter zeroed in on me. “So what is the status of your relationship?” she asked and I groaned.

  “Come on don’t do that to her. I’m irresistible of course she wants me.” Nick bragged and I rolled my eyes.

  “You’re more like delusional.”

  “Come on Mel admit it, you want me.”

  I scoffed. “I think everyone in the room can see your ego… it’s so big.”

  Nick laughed. “Is this an inappropriate time to make a ‘that’s what she said’ joke?” he asked. Me and Phil said yes at the same time. Nick pushed back Shakira’s chair and put his hand on the bottom of mine dragging me closer to him.

  “Melanie….” He sang and I rolled my eyes.

  He sighed and whispered something into Shakira’s ear. She smirked and leaned towards the microphone. “Then I better not catch you sneaking out of daddy’s room.”

  The whole room erupted in laughter and I turned red in embarrassment. She has no idea what she’s implying but she’s all about team Nick right now. I didn’t even have a witty comeback to that one, he just used my own daughter against me.

  “I’m letting your dad do your hair tomorrow.”

  She shrugged. “I don’t have to go to school so I can wear my hair messy.” She told me and gave Nick a high five, I rolled my eyes. He totally corrupted her.

  They threw a few more questions at us and I realized it seemed that they were trying to instigate our banter and we continued to fall for it. When we were done Phil was standing to the side and he had an oversized lollipop in his hand for Shakira. She ran off towards him and he picked her up and helped her open it. I began to stroll across the stage when I felt Nick behind me. “You going to sneak into my room?” he whispered in my ear as he wrapped his arms around me.

  I laughed. “No.” I said and tried to break free but his arms tightened on me.

  He pulled me flush against him and took control of us walking. “You know you want to.” He said and I rolled my eyes. “You haven’t had your period in over a month. Are we having another baby?” he asked and I froze.

  “How the hell do you know that and I don’t?” I asked.

  He shrugged. “I know how long we’ve been together and I know there hasn’t been a day that we needed to stop. Your period comes like clockwork. It’s been over a month Mel. That means that your pregnant hormones are going to make you want me.” He whispered in my ear.

  I spun around to face him. “We’ll stop on the way home?” I asked and he nodded.

  “By the way, you fucking don’t claim me in public again I’m going to kick your ass in front of the world.” He told me.

  My eyebrows rose. “You could’ve answered the question.”

  He rolled his eyes. “No you were supposed to gush about how awesome I am and how much you need me.” He gripped the back of my neck and pulled me closer.

  He kissed me lightly and pulled back looking into my eyes. His other hand fell on my lower back and he kissed me again, this time it was a real kiss. I opened for him and his hand moved down to cup my ass. It wasn’t until we heard Shakira’s Ewww that we broke apart. I looked up to see that all of the reporters were snapping pictures and watching. I reddened and when Shakira walked over to us Nick picked her up and threw her on his shoulders. He grabbed my hand and we walked off stage. I snatched his shades from the front of his shirt and threw them on. I knew it was going to be a circus outside and I needed them to help make me disappear. When we exited it worse than I had anticipated. If it weren’t for the shades I would’ve been blinded. Nick pulled me closer into him and I gripped onto him for support. We were escorted into the car and once we were settled and pulled out Nick sat Shakira on his lap.

  “You ok sweet girl?” he asked and she nodded.

  “I’m sleepy, can I go to sleep?” she asked.

  “Go ahead baby girl.” He told her. She yawned and laid her head down on Nick’s shoulder and she was sleep in a matter of seconds after he started rubbing her back.

  Nick toyed with my hand the whole ride home, we had the driver stop at a 24 hour Walgreens and purchase a test for us. We knew we were probably being tailed by some reporters and the last thing we needed at the moment was them getting a shot of one of us with it. We doubted they would have followed the driver in they were too focused on us at the moment. When we got to the house he put Shakira to bed and walked off to his room. I changed my clothes and made my way there after him.

  Nick

  When Mel entered my room I pointed to the bathroom and she went in without a word. I undressed down to my boxers and sat down on the bed and waited. After about ten minutes passed I got up and knocked on the bathroom door.

  “Yes?” she called.

  “What the hell is taking so long?” I asked impatiently.

  “I can’t pee!” she called out.

  I frowned. “What do you mean you can’t pee?”

  “I don’t have to go. Nothing’s happening.”

  I sighed. “Fine then wait until you have to go then.” I conceded. It’s not like I could go do it for her.

  I got into the bed and she came out shortly after and joined me. “Why do you choose now to have a frozen bladder?” I fussed at her.

  She giggled. “Are you really going to blame me for not having to use the bathroom?”

  I nodded. “It’s not my fault. If I needed to pee on a stick I would’ve been able to perform.” She rolled her eyes and I feigned hurt. “Are you trying to imply that I can’t perform?” I asked.

  She nodded. “I didn’t really want to say anything…” she began and I pounced on her.

  “Just so you know you can’t have your way with me all night, we need to head out to Ohio to Landon’s kind of early… no sleeping in.” I told her.

  Her eyes widened. “Are you kidding me? It’s you, you beast.” She said and I smiled. I leaned down and kissed her and well, I was pretty sure we were both going to be having a long day tomorrow. As soon as I woke up I shook Mel awake.

  “Hmmm?”

  “Mel wake up.” I whispered in her ear.

  “Why?” she muttered.

  “Get up Mel.” I fussed.

  She groaned and rolled over to face me. “What Nick?”

  “Go pee.” I urged.

  Her eyes widened and she slapped the blanket. “You did not just wake me up to make me go pee. What the fuck am I a two year old? I’m not going to pee in the bed Nick.”

  I rolled my eyes. “No I want you to go in there and pee on the damn stick.”

  She growled. “I swear I’m going to kick your fucking ass…” she muttered. The rest of her words trailed off as she got out of bed and marched to the bathroom ensuring that she slammed the door. Knowing that I already pissed her off I decided to wait until she came out on her own. I heard the water running so I assume she’s freshening up.

  She came out a few minutes later with the stick in hand. She sat down beside me on the bed and I snatched it from her hand. “You do realize that I just peed on that?” she asked.

  I caught her eye. “You do realize that I don’t give a damn?” she scowled and I grinned at her. “So did you cheat and look already?” I asked.

  She shook her head. “No I was pretty nervous.”

  I nodded. “Ready?”

  She smiled. “Yea” she said softly.

  I pulled it slowly out of the package she had placed it back into and flipped it over. It was one of those fancy ones that has the words opposed to the ones with plus and minus signs. I looked down at the test and kept my face expressionless. Mel’s leg was bouncing in anticipation and I turned to her. Her eyebro
ws lifted in question and I sighed.

  “It’s broken.” I told her.

  She gaped at me. “What do you mean it’s broken?”

  I shrugged. “It’s broken Mel, I didn’t do it.”

  She sighed. “Are you kidding me?” she muttered under her breath and I nodded. I knew she wasn’t talking to me but I answered anyway. Her eyes narrowed as she studied me. “What?” she asked.

  I shrugged. “I was just kidding. It’s not broken Mel, look.” I moved it over so that she could see it and she gasped. Her hands flew up to her mouth and she slowly brought her eyes up to mine.

  “I’m pregnant.” She whispered.

  I nodded. “We’re pregnant.” I told her and she gave me a smile. Then out of nowhere she popped up and threw herself at me wrapping her arms around my neck as she squealed. I wrapped my arms around her waist and settled her on my lap. “You’re happy huh?” I asked with a chuckle.

  She grabbed my face with both hands and gave me a sloppy kiss. “I am Nick. Initially when you mentioned it I was so nervous. I think it had more to do with the first time I was pregnant and I was so alone. Sure after a while Roger was there but he wasn’t really there if that makes sense. I didn’t spend much time with him because it just felt weird having our baby inside of me and then being with him. Since I couldn’t tell you, I couldn’t share her with anyone else… it just had a lot of suck ass moments. I always wanted a few children but I never thought I would have any after Shakira. I honestly didn’t see me ever having a baby with Roger and well… with you it’s different. I would probably have a million of your babies Nick. I think you were the problem in our relationship. I realize now that I was subconsciously comparing him to you and he always fell short to the point that I barely tolerated him. After a while it just seemed to all fade away and everyday kind of just merged together. The only thing that was life for me was Shakira and work.”

  I bought her face down for another kiss. “Mel I haven’t been in a relationship since you. You fucked me up pretty bad. I was a mess and I never really could forget about you no matter how hard I tried. Even when I was just sleeping around and being a mess, I couldn’t shake you. I didn’t date or do much of anything else with woman because you’re the only girl that I want to actually spend time with. When I found out that you were pregnant I got pissed and then I heard about the engagement. That sent me into depression. I was depressed, sad, angry, and just turned plain mean and bitter. I was hurt as hell and it made me even more pissed off that it was getting to me so much. Lucy and Landon were constantly bugging me and I just couldn’t admit what I was feeling to anyone. I wasn’t avoiding you because I hate you Mel, I avoided you because I never stopped wanting you and seeing you made it fifty times worse. I missed you so fucking much Mel and I want to tell you I’m sorry.”

  Her eyebrows flew up in confusion. “Sorry for what?”

  I sighed. “I lied to you once and I felt like I didn’t have a choice.” Her look turned weary and I held her eyes. “That night in Ohio when we were talking outside, I told you that I didn’t love you anymore. I was just trying to put the distance between us and protect myself maybe. I thought we needed to get over everything. But I never stopped loving you Melanie.”

  She leaned forward and kissed me softly. “Thank god. I was pining for you and that’s why I could never help myself from approaching you when I did see you. But every time I did you seemed like I was killing you or something and well it hurt. In the back of my mind I always wondered if you truly didn’t love me anymore. I remembered dancing with you at the party and then watching you leave drunk with another girl. That one thing hurt worse than anything I’ve ever felt with Roger, he didn’t have the ability to hurt me that bad and I had no reason to feel that way. I mean I was engaged at that time and we weren’t together, but I felt so betrayed. I feel horrible but I just couldn’t marry Roger. I didn’t want to be honest with myself about why I never married him but truth is I just didn’t love him. I had love for him but I wasn’t in love with him, I don’t think I ever was. You know I still named her after you right?”

  I looked at her confused because Shakira had her last name. “What do you mean?”

  “Her middle name is Nichole that was the closest I could get to Nicholas.”

  I sighed. “I love you.”

  She beamed at me and hugged me tight. She let out a shaky breath and spoke again, “I’ve been waiting years to hear you say that.” She whispered. When we both came down from our emotions she gave me a curious look. “I was thinking though… how the hell did I get pregnant?” she asked.

  I frowned. “Well, I can retell you the tree planting story the same way I did for Max. You know the daddy plants a seed in the mommy’s stomach –“she cut me off.

  “Nick I didn’t mean it that way you idiot. I mean I’m on birth control that’s why I was shocked as hell when you suggested it.”

  I shrugged. “We can ask when we go to the doctor.” Her eyes misted and I was confused. “What’s wrong?” I asked.

  A tear escaped and she let out a small low chuckle before shaking her head. I lifted my hand and wiped away her tear. “The whole time I was pregnant with Shakira and was going to my appointments alone I would think about how different it would’ve been if you had been there with me. Don’t mind me.” She said.

  I shook my head, gave her another kiss, and decided to break the tension. “Babe I’m hungry can you feed me so we can get ready and get out of here?” I asked. She rolled her eyes and went to get up. I slapped her ass at the last second and she yelped.

  When she left the room I got up and took my time freshening up before heading downstairs. Shakira was still asleep and Mel was working in the kitchen. I put on some coffee and took the French vanilla creamer out of the fridge for Mel. She was in love with that shit. I prefer hazelnut flavored coffee with sugar and once in a blue moon half and half. Now my cabinet is stocked with more French vanilla flavored coffee than anything, her presence was all over our home. I poured us both a cup and set hers down on the cabinet beside her. Shakira was still asleep so I took the opportunity to cop a feel.

  “Nick…” Mel trailed off as I pressed myself into her back.

  “Hmmm?” I asked as I kissed her behind her ear and her body shuttered. I was immediately turned on.

  “Stop.” She whined unconvincingly.

  “You don’t mean that…” I whispered as I began trailing kisses down her neck. I wrapped my arms around her front and slowly rubbed her stomach and made my way up.

  “I’m cooking.” She said in a breathy whisper and I chuckled.

  “You don’t have to stop cooking for what I’m doing.” I kissed her cheek lightly and she turned her head so that I could capture her lips. I heard footsteps and I sighed and put some space between us. I didn’t need Shakira killing my vibe right now making fun of us kissing or touching in the kitchen. Mel must’ve caught on and started laughing.

  “Hi mommy and daddy.” She greeted us. She came over and wrapped her arms around my legs.

  I bent down and picked her up a bit so that I could place a kiss on her forehead. “Morning cupcake.”

  “Are we going to aunty Lucy’s house today?” she asked.

  I nodded. “Yes we are baby girl, are you excited?”

  She nodded. “Yes I want to play with my cousins.” She clapped excitedly.

  We had breakfast and went about packing our stuff. Our flight was in a couple of hours so we didn’t have much time to waste. We thankfully made it out of the house in time, Mel was running around like a mad man through the house at the last minute I thought for sure that we weren’t going to make it. Mel and Shakira had to also go incognito like me so that we didn’t draw attention to ourselves. Due to the colder weather, it made it a lot easier for us to cover up. It pissed me off that now everyone knew about them they had to take caution too otherwise people would recognize them. We made it without incident onto the plane and into a cab thank goodness. When we pulled up to the
house I smiled, it’s been a long time since I’ve come back here and wasn’t weary. I loved Lucy and Landon more than anything, but it hurt to be around them and watch everything they had that I didn’t.

  When we arrived Lucy greeted us. “Hey there doll face.” I told her lifting her off of her feet for a hug.

  She giggled. “Hey Nick!” she squealed as she squeezed me to her.

  “Give me some love sugar.” I goaded her and she rolled her eyes. She got on her tiptoes and went to kiss my cheek when I grabbed her face and gave her a loud kiss on the lips.

  “Really Nick? Get off of her.” Landon scolded me.

  I pinched Lucy’s cheeks and sighed. “He’s no fun…” I pouted.

  I let go of Lucy and I heard her talking to Shakira and Mel as I made my way towards Landon. “Hey man, what’s up?”

  He grinned. “Nothing…” he peered around me to Mel and Shakira. He lifted his eyebrows, “I watched your press conference. What’s up with you two?” he asked waggling his eyebrows.

  I shrugged. “Nothing.” I said with a smile.

  Landon grunted. “We’ll see.”

  I followed him further into the house and made my way to my old room. whenever I was here, I stayed in that room. All the kids stayed upstairs with them and Lucy made it clear she still wanted to keep that as my room even though I don’t stay there anymore I still live there. I’m not one to argue with that girl because she could throw one hell of a fit. I dropped my bag and started to get comfortable, the good thing is that I didn’t have to pack too much when I came because I still had clothes and crap that I keep here. sometimes when I have time I decide to come visit on a whim. I try to come out as much as possible to spend time with the kids as well and Landon and Lucy. Mel and Shakira came in shortly after. Mel dropped her bag on the bed and sighed.

  “I’m jet lagged.” She admitted.